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The migrant camp in Calais, France, is known as The Jungle. More than 7,000 people live on 45 acres not far from the sea. Clean water is limited, and sanitation is poor. Amid the squalor, thousands of shelters dot the landscape, cobbled together with whatever came to hand, and reflecting the culture of its occupants.

Marco Tiberio created a fascinating typology of the shelters, photographing more than 100 of them for his ongoing series Invisible Cities, Architecture of Exodus. "I wanted to talk about migration in a different manner,” he says. “Instead of making people pity [the migrants], I wanted to show their skills and resilience.”

Calais is a small port city roughly 20 miles from Dover, England. Migrants from North Africa and the Middle East began flocking there in the late 1990s, hoping to stow away on ferries and trains crossing the English Channel. Although the settlement grew over the years, the French government did little about it until last year, when it opened an assistance center. It provides meals, showers, and other basic services to about 2,400 migrants.

Tiberio first visited Calais in January, 2015, when he was put in touch aid workers who offered to show him around. He returned a few months later to begin photographing the shelters. He speaks English, French, Arabic and a bit of Sudanese, making it easy to chat with people. "They were very proud of what they built and always explained to me how they made the constructions," Tiberio says.

He made more than 15 trips, shooting with a Fuji X-E1 and an iPhone. He favored straightforward shots, letting the lines, shapes and colors of each dwelling come through clearly. The tents and huts often reflect the culture and experience of the person who built it. The most intricate are made by African migrants seeking asylum, a process that can mean waiting more than a year for paperwork to go through. One Sudanese man topped his domicile with a thatched roof typical of huts in the Nouba Mountains.

The French government destroyed many of the structures in March, replacing them with heated shipping containers and official tents. While people did move in, they weren't popular. "They judged them cold and aseptic,” Tiberio says.

Invisible Cities, Architecture of Exodus celebrates the determination and individuality of the migrants without photographing them. And it celebrates the human need for comfort, dignity, and security—a place to call home—even somewhere as wretched as The Jungle.

Tiberio's series will be published as the photobook Immo Refugee this fall.